


you know it ain’t easy, running out of thrills

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Femslash, Ridiculousness, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:12:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2441492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Darcy is a college student, and Natasha is her mysterious, alluring roommate with weird sleeping habits.</p><p>Oh, and Natasha might, just possibly, be a vampire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**you know it ain’t easy, running out of thrills**

**Chapter One**

Darcy was rocking out to _Rock the Night_ by Europe when her new roommate arrived.

Darcy had already been at college for a semester, and had fully expected to have the same roommate as before, but Talia had decided to drop out after only one semester, leaving Darcy to be assigned some total stranger.

Darcy was singing along as she unpacked her suitcase, and had just gotten to _‘you know it ain’t easy, running out of thrills’_ when she suddenly had the feeling she was being watched. Turning around, Darcy found that there was a stunning redhead standing in the dorm room doorway, a set of roll-along luggage at her feet, and one shapely eyebrow raised.

That was definitely a judgmental eyebrow, Darcy thought, giving the other girl a once-over. She had amazing red hair – perfect, fiery curls that fell to her shoulders – cool green eyes, and the kind of facial structure that looked like it belonged to Greek sculpture. The rest of her was just as impressive – the other girl was all curves, clad in tight jeans and a leather jacket which Darcy envied on sight.

“I got a 4.0 average last semester, so don’t judge me,” Darcy said, turning to face the other girl better. “You must be my new roommate.”

“I guess so,” said the other girl. “And I wasn’t judging you. I was just… surprised.”

“Surprised?” Darcy repeated dubiously.

“It’s not often someone your age listens to hair metal,” the other girl explained. “What is that, Europe?”

Darcy immediately revised her first impression of the other girl.

“New roommate, we are going to get along just fine,” said Darcy. “What’s your name, new roommate?”

The other girl’s mouth quirked in a way that suggested that she was amused, but she replied seriously, “Natasha Romanov. ”

“Cool,” said Darcy, bouncing over to her iPod dock. “Nice to meet you, Natasha. What kind of music do you like?”

Natasha shrugged, and walked into the dorm room, pulling her luggage along with her.

“I like most things,” she said simply. Then: “Do you have any Chicago?”

Darcy grinned, and scrolled down through artists until she found Chicago. A moment later, the opening strains of _Hard To Say I’m Sorry_ were playing through the cheap speakers.

Darcy went back to unpacking her stuff, and  Natasha did the same, putting her clothes away in the small chest of drawers that was on the side of the room with the empty bed, and shelving her textbooks above the desk next to it.  Where Darcy was haphazardly stuffing her clothes in drawers, Natasha neatly folded all her clothes as she put them away.

When Natasha was done, her side of the room still looked pretty bare. Darcy’s side, by contrast, was a study in how things reflected personality: besides the iPod dock, her chest of drawers had a couple of framed photo frames and the case for her reading glasses resting on it, while her bed was covered with stuff she hadn’t finished putting away yet – textbooks, her laptop, an Alphonse Mucha art print she had yet to blu-tack to the wall, copies of _Undead and Unemployed_ and _Soulless_ , plus a variety of snacks that hopefully wouldn’t be stolen by Darcy’s new roommate. Talia had made a habit of raiding Darcy’s snack stashes, which had been really annoying.

As Darcy started to put the stuff on her bed away, Natasha sat on her own bed and watched.

“You like art?” she asked Darcy.

“Some of it, I guess. Older stuff, not all the postmodern stuff, that just annoys me,” said Darcy. “You?”

“I don’t really know much about art,” Natasha demurred. She studied the art print lying on Darcy’s bed. “I like that, though.”

“It’s cute, right?” Darcy said, sticking the print to the wall above her bed. “ _Zodiac_ , Alphonse Mucha. One of my favourites.”

Darcy looked at all the stuff on her bed, looked at her new roommate, and decided that Natasha didn’t look like the sort of person who would steal her stuff. She could leave it there until she felt like putting the rest of it away.

“First night back at college, and I am starving,” Darcy declared. “There’s a cheap Chinese place near here – how do you feel about eating out?”

Natasha looked surprised, but said, “I ate earlier, so I’m not really hungry.”

“You sure?” Darcy pressed, but Natasha nodded.

“Okay then, we’ll have to have the getting-to-know-you conversation when I get back,” said Darcy. “Don’t let anyone steal my stuff while I’m gone.”

“Sure,” said Natasha, so Darcy grabbed her purse, and left to get some dinner.

She got back an hour and a half later to find Natasha reading her copy of _Undead and Unemployed._

Darcy cleared her throat pointedly. Natasha glanced up.

“This is very absorbing,” she said.

“It’s also mine,” said Darcy, displeased. “Not that I mind you borrowing it, but next time, ask, okay? New ground rule: always ask before you take my stuff.”

“Sorry,” said Natasha. “I’ll ask next time.” She went back to reading the book.

“Good,” said Darcy. “You know that’s the second book in the series?”

“I figured it wasn’t the first,” said Natasha, idly turning a page. “It’s pretty light-hearted, for a vampire novel.”

“Yeah, that was what I liked about the series,” Darcy agreed, “but it gets heavy later in the series, so I lost interest. Still really like the first three books, though.”

“Mm.” Natasha made a vague noise, and continued reading.

Darcy went back to putting away all the stuff on her bed, putting her laptop on her desk and shelving her textbooks above it. _Soulless_ she propped up next to the textbooks, and her variety of snacks went in the bottom drawer of her desk.

Darcy looked at Natasha. Natasha still had her nose stuck in _Undead and Unemployed._

“So,” Darcy said loudly, sitting down on her bed and training her gaze on the other girl, “is this your first semester?”

“Mm-hmm,” Natasha murmured, without looking up.

Darcy stared unblinkingly at her until Natasha finally glanced up.

“What?” Natasha asked.

“Traditionally, this is roommate-bonding time,” said Darcy, blinking rapidly. Her eyes hurt from not blinking for too long. “So come on, roommate, let’s bond.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“You’re serious.”

“Damn straight. I want to know something about the person I’m  going to be living with for at least another semester,” Darcy confirmed.

“At least another semester?” Natasha frowned, lowering the book.  “You don’t think I’m going to be here for the next three years?”

“Things happen,” Darcy shrugged. “I thought I was going to have Talia for the next three years, and then she dropped out. Which is sad, but at least she won’t be stealing my snack foods anymore. Please tell me you’re not going to do that,” Darcy added.

“I’m not going to steal your snack foods.” Natasha looked equal parts entertained and bemused.

“That’s awesome,” Darcy decided. “Although, you’ve probably got some other terrible habit that makes up for it.”

“You’re really not a complimentary person, are you?” Natasha asked.

“Sure I am. I can be plenty complimentary.  You have amazing hair. See? That’s a compliment,” Darcy replied.  Natasha gave Darcy a long, vaguely bewildered look.

“You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met,” she told Darcy.

“Everyone says that,” Darcy responded serenely.

* * *

Late that night, Darcy was woken by the sound of the door shutting. She blinked blearily, and glanced over at Natasha’s bed. It was empty.

Figuring that Natasha must have needed to go to the bathroom or something, Darcy closed her eyes again, and immediately slipped back into sleep.  
 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The next morning Darcy woke early when her alarm went off.

“Ugh,” Darcy complained, reaching over to turn it off, and sitting up. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Darcy glanced at Natasha’s bed.

All that Darcy could see of the other girl was a pile of duvet, and a splash of red hair at its far edge.

“Yo, Natasha,” Darcy said loudly. There was no movement from the duvet.

Swinging her feet out of bed and yawning, Darcy walked over to poke at the duvet.

“Natasha!” Darcy said, even more loudly. “Do you have classes today? Natasha!”

Darcy pulled back the duvet a little, to reveal a sleeping Natasha. Natasha was lying there in her black nightie, hair spread out around her on the pillow, mouth open slightly. Darcy shook her shoulder. Natasha’s skin was strangely cold to the touch.

Natasha remained stubbornly asleep.

Frowning, Darcy rubbed her hand against her pyjama shirt to warm it up again, and watched the barely perceptible rise-and-fall of Natasha’s chest. It seemed that Natasha was merely asleep, at least, and not dead. That was good; it would have been weird if Darcy’s roommate had like, died in her sleep overnight. That really would have been awkward to explain.

Shrugging, Darcy left Natasha where she was. It wasn’t Darcy’s responsibility to make sure that Natasha got to her classes on time, and Darcy had already done her best to wake the other girl.

Grabbing a clean change of clothes out of her chest of drawers, Darcy shuffled off to join the line for the nearest bathroom.

Behind her, Natasha slept on.

* * *

After classes, Darcy met up at the campus burger joint with Jane.

Darcy and Jane had been friends since their first year of high school, both of them the odd-ones-out in their grade. Darcy had been more eccentric than quirky, back then, and Jane had been a tomboyish science nerd who refused to wear anything other than jeans and plaid shirts. They’d both changed and grown up a little since then, but they’d stayed firm friends despite everything.

“So how’s your new roommate?” Jane asked, in between mouthfuls of burger. Darcy shrugged.

“It’s hard to tell at this point, but she seems okay. When I left she was still asleep, so I hope she got to all her classes and didn’t expect me to wake her up, or anything.”

“You just left her?” Jane frowned.

“She wouldn’t wake up!” Darcy protested. “I tried shaking her and everything, but she just kept sleeping. I figured it wasn’t, like, my sacred duty to see her to classes, or anything. I just hope she isn’t mad about it.”

“I guess,” said Jane.

“So,” said Darcy, leaning forward and grinning, “how’s things with Thor? Did you too meet up over vacation?”

Jane matched Darcy’s grin.

“We did, actually,” Jane said, and ducked her head a little shyly. “He’s really…”

“Cut? Tall? Made of muscle?” Darcy suggested.

“Good with my parents,” Jane finished. “You know they don’t usually approve of the guys I bring home–”

“That’s because you usually bring home guys like Donald Blake, _ew_ ,” Darcy interrupted.

“–but they really liked Thor,” Jane continued, ignoring Darcy’s interpolation.

“What’s not to like?” Darcy asked. “He’s hot, good-natured, and he’s smarter than you’d think, for a guy with muscles bigger than my head. I mean, I never would have guessed he was in your astrophysics classes.”

“Darcy,” Jane said, and elbowed her; but she was smiling slightly, so she clearly wasn’t too upset.

“I mean, no offense Jane, but if the two of you weren’t a thing, I would hit that like a shot,” Darcy said frankly. “Climb him like a tree and–”

“ _Darcy!_ ” Jane said, sounding scandalised.

Darcy realised a second later that this was because Thor had joined them.

“Oh, hey, Thor,” Darcy said brightly. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough,” said Thor, with a knowing grin.

“You should take it as a compliment,” Darcy told him. “Also, it is a sign of how much I respect my friendship with Jane that I haven’t tried to hit on you.”

“You hit on him all the time,” Jane said.

“Well, yeah, but not _seriously,_ ” Darcy protested. “It’s how I show appreciation, that’s all.” She decided to change the subject. “Hey, on a scale of Professor Potts to Loki, how bad an idea is it to get involved with your roommate?”

“You are using my brother as the ultimate example in bad ideas?” Thor asked, amused. “I believe he would approve.”

“I’ve met your brother, he is totally the ultimate in bad ideas,” Darcy said, at the same time as Jane said, “You’re thinking of dating your roommate?”

“Maybe,” Darcy said. “She’s really hot, and she seems pretty cool so far. She likes my music!”

“What’s wrong with your music?” Thor asked. “I like it.”

“You have the perfect boyfriend,” Darcy told Jane.

“I know,” Jane agreed, leaning affectionately against Thor. Thor responded by wrapping an arm around her and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. Jane looked all kinds of tiny and fragile next to him. You’d never know, looking at her, that she was a total badass.

“You might like my music, Thor, but lots of people don’t,” Darcy explained. “So, what do you think? Date the roommate, yes or no?”

“Is she interested in women?” Jane asked, like that was relevant.

“How should I know?” Darcy asked. “We’re talking about me asking her out, not whether she’ll say yes.”

“I don’t know; it could be pretty awkward, sharing a room if she says no, or you break up,” said Jane.

“That’s true, but on the other hand, she’s _really hot_ ,” Darcy countered. “And like I said, she seems cool so far.”

“Then perhaps you should get to know her better, and then decide,” Thor suggested reasonably.

“Good idea,” said Darcy. “Thanks, dude.”

“You just thanked him for suggesting what I’m pretty sure you were going to do anyway,” said Jane, who knew Darcy way too well.

“Yeah, but now I have , you know, consensus,” Darcy explained. “So. How’s space?”

“Space is good,” Thor replied cheerfully.

“You have no idea what astrophysics actually involves, do you?” Jane asked.

“I know space is involved, and then nada,” Darcy agreed.

Jane shook her head, but Thor laughed.

“So how was your vacation?” Jane asked Darcy. Darcy made a face.

“It was okay. I headed back home over the break, did some odd jobs, that sort of thing. It was boring. I bet _your_ vacation was much more interesting,” Darcy added, with a smirk, and a meaningful look.

Jane blushed, but couldn’t help smiling.

“Indeed it was,” Thor responded, paying no mind to Darcy’s innuendo. Darcy had yet to work out if he was totally oblivious to that sort of thing, or just good at ignoring it. “I met Jane’s parents. They are good people.”

“But you went on dates as well, right?” Darcy asked.

“We went to the planetarium,” said Jane. Thor nodded in agreement.

Darcy threw her napkin at them.

“That is it, I am so done with you two.”

Thor and Jane just grinned unabashedly.

* * *

In the end, Darcy didn’t get back to her dorm room until after the sun had gone down. She opened her dorm room door to see Natasha sitting on her bed, still in her nightie, hair a mess of rumpled curls and her eyes sleepy.

“Oh my God, don’t tell me you only just woke up,” said Darcy, throwing her stuff on the floor and flinging herself on her own bed.

“I have night classes,” said Natasha, which was not a denial.

“Oh my God, you were totally _asleep the entire day_ ,” Darcy said, wide-eyed.

“Welcome to college, where sleep happens whenever you like and ice-cream is considered an appropriate meal,” Natasha responded, giving a tiny smile. As Darcy stared at her, Natasha climbed out of bed and went to her chest of drawers to pull out some clean clothes.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need a shower,” said Natasha, grabbing her stuff and leaving the door room.

Darcy waited until she was gone, and then texted Jane.

_roommate only just woke up. said she has night classes wtf._

A moment later Jane texted back, _omg the horror._

 _No one likes a smartass,_ Darcy texted back, and ignored the beep of Jane’s reply. Instead, she took a seat at her desk, opening her laptop and turning it on so that she could check out Buzzfeed and Autostraddle.

She was still on Autostraddle when Natasha returned, wearing – Darcy swallowed – a close-fitting white blouse and a pencil skirt that outlined Natasha’s figure perfectly.

“Wow,” said Darcy, once she had her voice back. “You know that most people just turn up to class in jeans and a t-shirt, right?”

“I want to make a good first impression,” said Natasha. “Besides, I might go out later. Don’t expect me back until late.” Natasha glanced at the laptop screen, and she raised her eyebrow at the website’s tagline.

Darcy stared at her defiantly, waiting for Natasha to ask the obvious question. Natasha said nothing.

“Well?” Darcy finally said into the silence. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

“I didn’t think it was any of my business,” said Natasha carefully, walking past Darcy.

“Oh.” Darcy relaxed slightly. “Well, just for the record, I’m a Kinsey four.”

Natasha looked at her.

“That’s –”

“ _‘Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual,’_ ” Darcy quoted. “Yeah.”

“Interesting,” was all that Natasha said, as she got out a notebook and several pens, and put them into her messenger bag.

“That’s all you have to say?”

Natasha studied Darcy for a second.

“I’m a Kinsey five,” she said finally. “Is that a good enough reply for you?”

“Sorry,” Darcy said, after a moment’s silence. “I didn’t mean to be an asshole.”

“It’s fine,” said Natasha, but her expression lightened a little.

“Have fun with classes, and stuff,” Darcy offered, as Natasha walked towards the dorm room door.

Natasha smiled.

“Thanks,” she said, and left the dorm room.

As soon as she was gone, Darcy smacked herself in the forehead and muttered, “Well done, Lewis.”

That could have gone better, she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _So, this fic was totally inspired by the wonderful_ Carmilla _webseries, which is worth watching._

**Chapter Three**

After a week of living with Natasha, Darcy felt that she was starting to get a handle on her new roommate.

First of all, while not obsessive about it or anything, Natasha was neat and tidy, a lot more so than Darcy was.  She also kept a gym bag next to her desk at all times, with a change of clean clothes in it – in case there was an emergency and she had to get out fast, she said, although what kind of emergency Natasha was envisaging, Darcy didn’t know. Natasha was never awake before sundown, and after she left the dorm for the night she was never back before one in the morning. All weird.

She also didn’t seem to have any personal possessions, besides clothes and stuff – most people had knick knacks, photographs, that sort of thing decorating their dorm room, but Natasha had nothing. That was kind of weird, too.

Natasha seemed nice enough, though. She was more interested in talking about what Darcy was up to than talking about herself, but so far Darcy had managed to gather that Natasha was a sci-fi nerd, that she had a secret fondness for well-written romance novels that she refused to admit to (even though Darcy had seen her _reading_ romance novels from the local library), and that she was studying I.T.

“Hey, so I got you a couple things at the second-hand bookstore,” Darcy said in greeting, as she walked into the dorm room just in time to see Natasha swing her legs out of bed.

Natasha blinked at Darcy, and for a second something about the way that Natasha was looking at her made Darcy uneasy. Then Natasha blinked again, and everything was fine.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You said you enjoyed _Undead and Unemployed,_ and it was only two dollars, and since they had _Undead and Unappreciated_ as well, I got that too,” said Darcy, dumping the two books on Natasha’s bed.

Natasha looked surprised.

“Thanks,” she said. “That’s nice of you.” And then she smiled at Darcy.

For just a second, Darcy had trouble breathing. She shook it off.

“Yeah, well, I thought it was sad the way you have, like, no stuff,” Darcy said dismissively, waving away the act of kindness. “Now you at least have something to read when you get bored. You’re welcome.”

“Still, you didn’t have to,” Natasha persisted. “I appreciate it.”

So Darcy smiled back, and for a moment they were just there smiling at each other without saying anything, and it should have been awkward, but it wasn’t.

Natasha cleared her throat.

“So what do you do all day, when you aren’t in classes?” she asked Darcy, as Darcy sat down on her own bed, looking through the paperbacks she’d picked up at the second-hand bookstore.

“Well, today I went to the bookstore, obviously,” Darcy said, gesturing at the small pile of books. “Sometimes I meet up with Jane and Thor – that’s my best friend, and her boyfriend – and we get burgers or sushi. Usually burgers, though, because Thor is like–” Darcy held her hand high above her head, and then flexed her arm so that the biceps stood out a little,  “–so yeah. He eats a _lot_. And sometimes I come back here and study while you sleep. What about you?”

Natasha shrugged.

“I go to classes, sometimes I hang out with people, grab something to eat, and then I come back here. Nothing interesting.”

“Uh-huh,” said Darcy. “What about the people you hang out with? What are they like?”

“Well, there’s Loki –” Natasha began, and frowned in confusion when Darcy choked.

“ _No_. Loki’s in your classes?” Darcy spluttered.

“You know him?” Natasha’s eyebrows were raised.

“He’s Thor’s brother,” Darcy responded.  “He’s like two years younger than Thor, but Thor didn’t start college until he was twenty, so they’re both freshmen. So Loki’s in your I.T. classes? Please tell me someone has warned you about him.”

Natasha gave a slightly terrifying smile.

“Loki seems fine,” she said pleasantly, but something about her tone told Darcy that the pleasantness was a warning.

So Darcy shrugged, and said, “Okay, if that’s what you want to think. I’m just warning you, he has a long history of getting people into trouble. I mean sure, he’s weirdly likeable, and kind of charming, it’s just – you can’t depend on him, okay? Anyway,” Darcy hurried on, because Natasha didn’t look pleased by Darcy’s words, “is Loki the only one you hang out with?”

“I hang out with other people, sometimes, but Loki’s the only one I’ve really been consistently spending time with,” said Natasha.  “But it’s fine.”

“Uh-huh,” said Darcy. “You know what, you should meet Jane and Thor sometime. I mean, they’re both crazy astrophysics students, but they’re good company.”

“I’m fine,” Natasha repeated, although she was smiling slightly, which took some of the sting of rejection out of it. “I’ll make my own friends, Darcy.”

“Sure, that’s cool,” Darcy said, trying not to feel annoyed about it. “Whatever.”

“I’d like you to be one of them,” Natasha added directly.

Suddenly, Darcy wasn’t feeling annoyed anymore.

“Oh,” she said. “That sounds great. I’d like to be friends, too.”

“Good,” said Natasha. She and Darcy did that smiling-silently-at-each-other thing again.

“Anyway,” said Natasha, getting to her feet, “I should go–”

“Shower,” Darcy finished for her. “Yeah, I know your routine by now. Go ahead.”

Darcy watched Natasha leave with her stuff, and turned back to her pile of newly-purchased books, smiling a little.

* * *

“Your roommate really sleeps all day?” Jane asked the next day, when they were walking back to the dorms. “I want to meet her.”

“I don’t know, she’ll probably still be asleep,” said Darcy. “And if she isn’t, I don’t know that she’ll want your first impression of her to be in her nightie, Jane.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Jane resolutely, powering ahead with her determined stride. Darcy sighed resignedly, and walked faster to keep up.

So, the two of them walked into Darcy’s dorm room. Natasha was, as usual, fast asleep.

Jane and Darcy stared down at her. There was silence.

“Are you sure she isn’t dead?” Jane asked, breaking the silence.

“I _know_ , that’s what I thought!” Darcy exclaimed. “But she’s breathing, I checked. She just always sleeps like that.”

“You’re sure she’s breathing?” Jane asked, crouching down and trying to listen to Natasha breathe.

“I’m sure.” Darcy grabbed Jane’s arm and pulled her upright, away from Natasha. “Only a little, but she’s breathing. Don’t be a creeper, Jane.”

“Maybe you should try waking her up so I can meet her,” Jane suggested.

“It doesn’t work,” Darcy disagreed. But Jane gave her a look, so Darcy shook Natasha’s shoulder gently.

Nothing happened.

“See?” Darcy said, vindicated. “Nothing–”

Natasha opened her eyes.

There was a really awkward moment as she stared up at Darcy and Jane standing over her.

“Natasha!” Darcy chirped brightly. “Hi.”

“Is there a reason why you’re both standing over me while I was asleep?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We were just…” Jane began.

“Jane wanted to make sure you weren’t dead,” Darcy said over Jane. Jane glared at her, then glanced at Natasha, looking embarrassed.

“Yeah, so this is Jane, my best gal-pal,” Darcy said, making a _taa-daa!_ gesture. “Jane, this is Natasha, my roommate. Say hi, guys.”

“You thought I was dead?” Natasha repeated, sounding disbelieving. Jane looked even more embarrassed.

“You were sleeping really soundly,” Jane said defensively. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Jane didn’t believe me when I said you always sleep like that,” Darcy informed Natasha.

Natasha just stared at them, a bewildered wrinkle in her forehead.

“You know, when I moved in here, I thought I was going to be the weird one,” she said after a moment. “But you guys definitely have me beat.”

Jane immediately started protesting that she wasn’t weird, but Darcy just sat on her bed and grinned at Natasha.

“You’ll get used to it,” said Darcy, at the same time as Jane said, “It’s all Darcy, she’s the weird one.”

“No,” Natasha disagreed, “I’m pretty certain you’re weird, too.”

“I’ve been telling her that for years, but she won’t believe me,” said Darcy. “And Thor’s no help, he thinks everything Jane does is cute.”

“I’m really sorry,” Jane told Natasha. “We didn’t mean to creep you out.”

“It’s fine,” said Natasha, still with the bewildered wrinkle. It looked adorable, Darcy privately decided.

“Anyway, we were thinking of going out to dinner –” Darcy began.

“We were?” Jane asked. Darcy kicked her in the shin.

“Ow! I mean, yes, that’s what we were doing,” said Jane.

“And we were wondering if you wanted to come,” Darcy finished smoothly, giving Natasha hopeful eyes.

Natasha hesitated.

“Come on,” Darcy cajoled. “You have time before your class, right?”

Natasha hesitated a moment longer, but finally said, “Yeah, I have time.”

“Yes!” Darcy whooped triumphantly. “Then let’s go!”

“I’m in my pyjamas,” Natasha pointed out dryly.

“Oh, right.” Darcy gave an abashed grin. “When you’re ready, then?”

“That sounds… nice,” said Natasha slowly.

Darcy counted that as a win. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Dinner was weird.

Natasha didn’t eat anything, only ordering a soda instead of food, and while she was friendly enough, after only twenty minutes she excused herself on the grounds that she had a class to attend in five minutes time.

“So, that seemed a little weird,” Jane offered, after Natasha left. “Do you think she’s on a diet?”

“I don’t know,” said Darcy. “Actually, now I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat. _Ever_.”

“Well, maybe she just doesn’t like to eat in the dorms,” said Jane reasonably.

“Everyone likes to eat in the dorms,” Darcy said resolutely. “There is a mystery here, and I must solve it.”

“Oh God,” said Jane, with what Darcy considered an inappropriate lack of support for a best friend. “Can’t you just leave it alone.”

“I can’t,” said Darcy. “You know me, I have to know.”

“ _I know_ ,” Jane agreed darkly, because Darcy’s need to know was like, her Achilles heel: it got her into all kinds of trouble, and sometimes Jane along for the ride.

“Look, maybe it’s nothing, and she just has allergies or something, like Tiny Steve,” said Darcy. “But I have to find out.”

“You know he hates it when people call him Tiny Steve,” said Jane, looking unimpressed.

“And then Bucky beats everyone up in revenge, I know; it slipped out,” said Darcy. “It’s just, he’s so tiny and cute! I tried to ask him out once, but he blushed so hard I thought he was going to pass out, and then lost the ability to speak English. It was sad.”

“I heard about that,” Jane mused. “Bucky kept telling everybody, he thought it was hilarious. He said it was because you were leaning so that your boobs were in Steve’s face and he didn’t know where to look.”

“Bucky Barnes is a terrible wingman,” said Darcy, because it was true. “Handsome, though.”

“You think everyone is handsome,” said Jane.

“Not true,” Darcy objected. “Most guys I don’t think are hot at all. I am totally more into girls. I just have a few exceptions, that’s all.”

Jane sighed.

“Sometimes I worry about you being in a dorm with other girls,” she said, and Darcy poked her in the arm.

“Shut up, I’m not that bad.”

“Darcy, I remember when you bought that book of terrible pick-up lines and–”

“Hey, there’s no need to bring that up–”

“ –used them on _every girl at school_ except me,” Jane finished. “Even the dumb one about _‘did it hurt when you fell from heaven?’_ You might have forgotten, but I haven’t.”

“Yeah, no,” Darcy winced, “I remember.”

Every single person she’d hit on had said no. Most of them had laughed at her, and the boys who were watching had all jeered and made snide comments. Well, except for Tony Stark, who was taking notes on all her pick-up lines for future use.

It had been a painful period of Darcy’s life. Painful and embarrassing.

“Anyway, we weren’t talking about me, we were talking about my mysterious and alluring roommate,” said Darcy.

“Alluring?” Jane repeated.

“Have you seen her? Hell yes, she’s alluring.”

“If you say so.”

“I will get to the bottom of this,” Darcy vowed.

Jane just shook her head sadly.

* * *

Darcy took to surreptitiously watching her roommate whenever the two of them were a) both in the same room, and b) both awake. Darcy never saw Natasha eat _anything_ , although she had a stash of soda under her desk, which she drank with reasonable frequency.

A few times Darcy sneaked a look at Natasha only to find that Natasha was already watching her, looking amused, and quickly glanced away, pretending she’d never even looked in Natasha’s direction. Darcy was pretty sure that Natasha was getting the wrong idea –well, no, not the _wrong_ idea, because Darcy definitely thought that Natasha was hot, but not an idea that Darcy was intending to convey.

Darcy came to the conclusion that if Natasha was eating, it was only when Darcy wasn’t actually around to see.

On Thursday night Darcy asked Natasha,

“Hey, a guy I knew from school, Tony Stark, he’s having a party. You want to come?”

“Actually, Loki already invited me to come along,” said Natasha. “But I’d love to.”

“Okay, well, if you want, the two of us can walk down there together, and you can meet up with Loki when you get there.”

Natasha snorted.

“If he isn’t busy trying to get Sif’s attention.”

Darcy froze.

“Wait, Loki likes Sif?” She thought about it. “ _That makes so much sense_. Why did I never realise this?”

“Because Loki is incapable of being honest and open even if it would save his life,” Natasha said bluntly. “I’ve tried telling him that Sif responds to honesty and sincerity, but it hasn’t been working.”

“Okay, so Loki will probably be stalking Sif at the party, got it,” said Darcy. She smiled at Natasha. “I guess you’ll have to hang around with me, then.”

“I’ll cope,” said Natasha, smiling back.

“Cool,” said Darcy. “Just give me half an hour to get ready, okay?”

Darcy already had an outfit picked out, a red mini-dress she’d brought with her from home that went with her red strappy sandals and her favourite red lipstick.  When she finished getting ready, she turned around to see what Natasha was wearing, and her jaw dropped.

Natasha was wearing a curve-hugging black sheath dress that fell to her knees, and looked both hot and classy.

“Wow,” said Darcy. “You look… you look _great_.”

“So do you,” said Natasha, giving Darcy an appreciative look. “You ready to go?”

“Just let me grab my purse,” said Darcy, grabbing it. “Okay. Ready to go.”

The two of them left the dorm room, and walked to Tony’s apartment. Tony’s family was rich, which was why Tony had his own apartment instead of living in dorms or renting like everyone else. It was close to the college campus, and it didn’t take long for Darcy and Natasha to walk down there.

When they got to Tony’s apartment, the door was open, music was blasting from a set of large speakers, and people filled the apartment. Darcy and Natasha had barely entered when Tony himself swooped down on them.

“Lewis!” he exclaimed, leering at Darcy over the top of his coloured sunglasses. “You look hot. Still mostly a lesbian?”

“Afraid so,” Darcy replied.

“Are you wearing sunglasses at night?” Natasha asked, raising a judgemental eyebrow.

“ _So I can, so I can, keep track of the visions in my eyes_ ,” Tony sang, and then said, “You’re like the third person to ask me that tonight, cupcake.”

“You are such a giant dork,” Darcy declared, giving him a gentle shove.

Natasha narrowed her eyes.

“I am not your cupcake, Stark.”

“Don’t bother,” said a tall black guy, standing in the doorway behind them. “He never listens.”

“Rhodey! Honeybear!” Tony exclaimed in joy. Rhodes made a face that said _see?_ “What are you doing here? I thought you were constrained by army curfews, or something.”

“Air Force, Tony,” Rhodes said, sounding long-suffering, and Darcy took Natasha’s hand and tugged.

“Come on,” she said, “let’s go somewhere else before Tony remembers we’re here and gets handsy.”

“Gladly,” Natasha replied, and the two of them pushed their way through the crowd of people until Darcy saw people she recognised.

“Steve! Bucky!” she crowed, swooping down to hug them both. Steve looked slightly shell-shocked at the expanse of bosom he was suddenly being presented with, while Bucky was grinning at Steve’s discomfort, because everyone knew that Bucky Barnes was a terrible person.

“Hey, doll,” Bucky greeted Darcy, and gave Natasha an admiring look. “Who’s this?”

“Natasha Romanov, and I’m not interested,” said Natasha, getting straight to the point.

Bucky shrugged.

“I’m busy anyway, protecting Stevie’s virtue from Stark.”

“ _Bucky_ –” Steve hissed, reddening.

“Come on, Steve, he’s groped you twice already,” Bucky pointed out.

“That wasn’t groping!”

“Tony always was an equal-opportunity kind of guy,” Darcy observed wisely.

“And you’re friends with him?” Natasha inquired, arching an eyebrow. Darcy shrugged.

“He’s Tony Stark,” she said, as though that explained everything. “Besides, he’s okay, deep down.” Darcy thought about what she’d just said. “ _Really_ deep down,” she amended.

“He’s an asshole,” said Bucky. “But he throws great parties.”

Steve mumbled something that sounded like _he’s not that bad._

“Steve, my friend, you are delusional,” said Bucky. Steve looked stubborn, and started to argue.

Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Natasha,” said a voice from behind them, and Darcy and Natasha both turned, a smile on Natasha’s lips.

“Loki,” Natasha greeted him.

“Natasha,” said Loki, smiling. His gaze travelled to Darcy. “And the lovely Miss Lewis. I admire your taste, Natasha.”

“Darcy’s my roommate,” said Natasha, instead of explaining that no, Loki, the two of them weren’t dating. Darcy felt ridiculously buoyed by this, and told herself that it didn’t mean anything.

“Ah,” said Loki. “I see.”

He looked between Darcy and Natasha like he could see everything, and Darcy narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“No need for that look,” Loki chided her. “Natasha is my friend.”

“Yeah, well, last semester I thought _I_ was your friend, so excuse me if I’m not reassured,” Darcy shot back.

Loki looked regretful, while Natasha sent them both a long look.

“I _am_ sorry,” he said. “But you know how I feel about my brother.”

“I know _now_ ,” said Darcy, with a huff. “Besides, Thor’s a great guy, and I’m glad to be friends with him.”

“Then everything worked out for the best,” said Loki.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Darcy said coldly.

Natasha cleared her throat.

“I’m guessing you two have a past,” she said unnecessarily.

“Loki thought I liked his brother better than him, and stopped being friends with me,” Darcy explained. “Because he’s a jerk.”

Loki spread his hands.

“I bow to Darcy’s intimate knowledge of my disposition,” he said, and Darcy knew that he was being mocking.

Natasha looked at both of them.

“You realise you’re both behaving like children, right?” she asked. “Look, I like both of you, and I want my friends to get along. Can you try and behave like mature adults?”

Darcy and Loki eyed each other.

“I am willing to put the past behind us, if Darcy is willing to do the same,” Loki said magnanimously.

Darcy glared at him, but gave a reluctant nod.

“As long as he’s not a dick to me again, I can do that.”

“Good,” said Natasha, giving an approving nod. She turned to Darcy. “Do you want to dance?”

“Uh – sure,” Darcy stammered, and Natasha took her hand and led her back into the dancing crowd. Darcy was very aware of Loki grinning knowingly at her.

The music wasn’t too bad, for current stuff. Every time Darcy and Natasha’s bodies touched, Darcy experienced a small thrill. Between the thump of the music and Natasha’s closeness, Darcy felt vaguely dizzy.

She and Natasha danced for a while, before Darcy excused herself to get a drink. There was a bowl of punch that Darcy wasn’t stupid enough to try, and a bunch of cans of coca-cola. Darcy grabbed one of the cans, and popped the tab, taking a sip.

She turned back to the crowd, looking for Natasha’s trademark red hair, but couldn’t see her roommate anywhere.

Darcy noticed Tony in the corner with Steve, the two of them chatting away like old friends, and walked over to them.

“Hey guys, did you see where Natasha went?” she asked them.

“Natasha?” Tony asked cluelessly.

“The hot redhead,” Darcy clarified impatiently.

“Oh, _her_ ,” said Tony in enlightenment, and Darcy watched Steve roll his eyes. “Yeah, she said to tell you she wasn’t feeling that great and had to leave early, but you should stay here and have a good time.”

“Great,” Darcy complained, feeling hurt and irritated. “She could have waited until I got back, jeez.”

“Anyway, do you mind, Steve and I were having a conversation,” Tony said, so Darcy left the two of them alone.

She found Jane and Thor making out on the balcony, and cleared her throat loudly. When this did nothing, she yelled, “GUYS!”

Darcy and Thor broke apart.

“Excuse me, but we were busy,” said Jane.

“Yeah, I could tell,” said Darcy. “Come on, my roommate ditched me, and I don’t know half the people at this party.”

“Then we shall keep you company,” Thor offered gallantly, while Jane gave a put-upon sigh.

“Darcy,” said a familiar voice, and Darcy turned to see Loki standing behind her.

“Loki!” Thor exclaimed, delighted.

“Brother,” Loki returned stiffly, and looked back at Darcy, frowning. “Have you seen Natasha?”

“Tony said that she said she wasn’t feeling well and had to leave early,” said Darcy. “She left while I was getting a drink.”

Loki’s frown deepened.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Darcy asked.

“Someone just found Ward unconscious in the hallway,” Loki said. “The last I saw, Natasha was leaving the room with him.”

Darcy looked at him. Loki looked back.

“Walk me back to my dorm,” said Darcy, putting her annoyance with Loki aside. “I want to see if Natasha made it back there.”

“Of course,” said Loki.

“Darcy–” Jane began.

“I’ll see you later, Jane,” Darcy started to say, but Jane interrupted.

“We’ll come with you,” Jane said, glancing at Thor. “To make sure your roommate’s okay. If that’s okay with you,” she added to Loki.

“Very well,” said Loki. “If Natasha is in any kind of trouble, doubtless your assistance would be helpful.”

Together the four of them left the party, saying hurried goodbyes to Tony, and began walking back towards the women’s dorm building.

“So this guy they found unconscious in the hallway, who is he, and what happened to him?” Darcy asked Loki as they walked.

“Grant Ward – he shares classes with Natasha and I,” Loki replied. “As I said, he was found unconscious in the hallway by one of our classmates. He had blood on his neck.”

“Dammit,” said Darcy, and hurried her walk.

As soon as they got back to the dorm building Darcy and Jane left Thor and Loki at the front doors, hurrying upstairs to Darcy’s dorm room. Darcy threw open the door.

Natasha was curled up on her bed with a book, and glanced up as the door opened.

“Darcy?” she said, seeing the expression on Darcy’s face. “What’s wrong?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

“Oh, good,” said Loki, from behind Darcy. “You’re fine.”

“Loki?” Natasha asked, looking puzzled, while Darcy hissed, “You were supposed to stay outside! Dudes aren’t allowed in the dorms!”

“I assure you, this is hardly the first time I’ve been in the girls dormitories,” Loki said, and Darcy gave up on him, turning back to face Natasha.

“Some guy called Grant Ward was found unconscious at the party, and Loki said that he saw you with him not long before he was found,” Darcy explained. “We were afraid something had happened to you. But you look okay.”

“I’m fine,” said Natasha, sitting up. “Ward was attacked?”

“We don’t know,” said Loki, strolling past Darcy and Jane into the room. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Natasha gave him a look.

“Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary,” she said. “What happened to Ward?”

“No one’s quite sure,” responded Loki. “He was found with blood on his neck–” Natasha stiffened slightly, “–but aside from that, there was no clue as to why he was unconscious.”

“Oh,” said Natasha.

“If you weren’t feeling well, you should have said something,” said Darcy. “I would have walked back here with you.”

“I didn’t want to spoil your night,” said Natasha.

“Well, now that I’m here, I might as well stay,” said Darcy, turning to Jane and Loki. “What about you guys?”

“While I would love to stay here, the fact that it’s a women’s dorm would make my stay illicit, to say the least,” Loki began, and Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Oh, shut up. I _meant_ are you going back to the party, asshat.”

“Thor and I will probably head back,” said Jane, hovering in the doorway. “You’re sure you don’t want to come back with us, Darcy?”

“I’m sure,” Darcy agreed. “I’ll stay in with Natasha.”

“You don’t have to,” Natasha said.

“Nah, it’s cool,” said Darcy. “I’ll stay here and read for a while. The party was fun, but I don’t really feel like walking all the way back just to watch Tony hit on Steve while Jane and Thor make out.”

“I don’t blame you in the least,” said Loki, and Darcy tried to remember that she had good reasons for not liking him anymore. It was harder than it should have been.

“Whatever,” said Darcy. “You’ve seen that Natasha is fine. Now go away before we get in trouble for having boys in our dorm room.”

“I wish you two luck,” said Loki, doing a suggestive thing with his eyebrows.

“Oh my God, _go  away,_ ” said Darcy, and Loki finally left, grinning widely.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Jane asked, hesitating in the doorway.

“Probably,” said Darcy. “You and Thor go have fun.”

“Right,” said Jane, and left as well.

Darcy threw herself down on her bed.

“Loki is far too much of a likeable asshole,” she said aloud.

Natasha shrugged, and went back to her book.

“He’s not that bad.”

“I don’t want to think that. If I start thinking that, I might forgive him,” Darcy pointed out. “Which I don’t want to do, because that’ll only end badly.”

Natasha only shrugged again, so Darcy lay on her bed and thought about how strange it was that someone had been found unconscious in the hallway with blood on their neck. It sounded like the beginning of a horror movie, something with vampires –

Several things suddenly clicked together in Darcy’s head, and the hairs rose on the back of her neck. Carefully, trying not to be noticed, Darcy turned her eyes towards where Natasha was curled up reading.

Natasha was never awake before sundown. Her skin was cold to the touch. Darcy had never seen her eat normal food. And Natasha had been seen leaving with Ward right before he was attacked, or whatever.

It was stupid, ridiculous – and yet, Darcy couldn’t get the idea out of her head. She kept watching Natasha out of the corners of her eyes.

Was Natasha a _vampire?_

* * *

Darcy took forever to get to sleep that night, and woke the next morning feeling tired, irritable, and anxious.

Natasha was asleep as usual, dead to the world – Darcy shuddered as the turn of phrase passed through her mind – and Darcy carefully laid a finger against Natasha’s pulse. It took a minute before Darcy detected Natasha’s heartbeat, slow and sluggish.

Darcy spent most of that day worrying about whether or not her roommate was a vampire. She couldn’t tell Jane or Thor – they’d just laugh at her, and maybe even mention the conversation to Natasha. Which left only one person for Darcy to talk to who might know Natasha well enough to believe Darcy’s claims.

So, after asking Thor where his brother was staying, Darcy made her way into the boys’ dorms, ignoring the wolf-whistles and catcalls. She knocked on Loki’s door, and waited.

After a moment, the door opened, and a surprised-looking Loki was staring at her.

“I think Natasha’s a vampire,” Darcy blurted.

There was a beat of silence.

“By all means, explain your reasoning,” Loki drawled, leaning against the doorframe.

Darcy felt her face heat, but explained anyway.

“Well, she’s never awake before the sun goes down, and it’s impossible to wake her before then, no matter how you try. I’ve never once seen her eat actual food, and then there’s the thing with Ward – you said that he was found with blood on his neck, and Natasha was the last person to be seen with him. What if she fed off him, and that’s what happened?”

Loki’s eyebrows slowly rose, surprised and disdainful.

“You’re serious,” he said after a moment.

“Yes, I’m serious!” Darcy exclaimed. “You think I’d be here if I wasn’t?”

“You’re aware of how your story sounds,” Loki said, still with his eyebrows raised.

“Of course I am! I’m not stupid, okay. I _know_ how it sounds. That doesn’t mean it might not be true.”

Darcy waited as Loki gave her a long look.

“Offer me better proof, and perhaps then I’ll begin to consider your ridiculous assertion,” said Loki. “Until then, if I were you, I wouldn’t share your absurd theory with anyone else.”

“Fine!” Darcy said in exasperation. “But if anything happens to me, just remember what I told you!”

Loki raised a satirical eyebrow.

“I hardly think I could forget,” he said, and Darcy huffed, and grabbed the door handle so she could shut Loki’s door in his face.

Well. That hadn’t worked, and Darcy couldn’t think of anyone else who could possibly believe her.

Darcy should probably do her best to convince herself that Natasha was just a normal human being, but… the problem was, while Darcy knew intellectually that Natasha was probably perfectly human, all of her instincts said otherwise. And there was no way that Darcy could leave the issue alone.

Which meant confronting it head-on.

“Hopefully this isn’t the hill I picked to die on,” Darcy muttered to herself, heading back to her dorm.

Natasha was still sleeping like the dead, so Darcy sat on her bed, and watched the other girl sleep.

Finally, a little after the sun had gone down, Natasha opened her eyes.

Darcy took a deep breath, and hoped that she survived this.

“Natasha,” she asked slowly, “there’s no good way to ask this, but… are you a vampire?”

Natasha went incredibly still. Then, very slowly, she turned her head to look at Darcy.

Darcy gasped and went scrabbling backwards across the bed. Natasha’s entire iris had turned black, like it was all enormous pupil.

“Holy crap!” Darcy whispered through a constricted throat, her back pressed up against the wall.

Then Natasha blinked, and her eyes were back to their usual green.

“What gave me away?” she asked in a calm, almost detached voice. Darcy swallowed.

“Uh, well, there’s the way you sleep, and the fact that you never eat anything, plus the whole thing with Ward,” Darcy rambled, hoping that she wasn’t about to die. “If you didn’t want anyone to guess, you shouldn’t have left with him – actually, you probably shouldn’t have had a roommate either, since that put me in a position to put the clues together.”

“So little information, and yet you worked it out,” Natasha mused, her tone light and conversational, and yet Darcy couldn’t shake the feeling of cold terror creeping up her spine. “Most people would have dismissed the idea, even if they’d put it together. Why didn’t you?”

The answer spilled from Darcy’s lips, even as she tried to stop herself.

“It made too much _sense_ – I work from intuition, and even when it’s ridiculous, it’s usually _right_ –”

Darcy closed her eyes, and the urge to share all abruptly cut off. Darcy sat there, her heart hammering, barely daring to breathe.

“Are you going to kill me?” she heard herself whisper.

A gentle hand brushed hair off Darcy’s forehead, and Darcy flinched.

“I don’t kill people,” said Natasha quietly, and Darcy slowly opened her eyes, to see the other girl looking down at her, her expression difficult to read. “Besides, who would believe you?”

“Not Loki, anyway,” Darcy grumbled, heart-rate beginning to slow, and Natasha went still again.

“You told Loki?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t believe me,” said Darcy. “You really don’t kill people?”

“Not anymore,” said Natasha, which was a disturbing answer that Darcy decided, after a moment’s contemplation, it was best not to examine.

“What about Ward?” Darcy asked.

“He’ll wake up, safe and sound, missing some blood and the memory of what happened before he fell unconscious,” Natasha responded.

“Really?”

“I told you, I don’t kill people,” Natasha reiterated.

“Oh,” said Darcy, and couldn’t think of anything else to say.  She and Natasha looked at each other.

“Well,” said Darcy. “It’s good that you don’t kill people, I guess.”

There was a long silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to the few people who actually seem to be reading and enjoying this! I have a few vague ideas about what's coming next, but out of curiosity, where would you like to see this fic go?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

“Can we still be friends?” Natasha asked hesitantly.

Darcy stared at her.

“You – you still want to be friends?”

“Well,” said Natasha, “it’s been a long time since I had friends.”

In spite of herself, Darcy was curious.

“Why?”

Natasha didn’t smile. Her eyes were shadowed.

“Friends don’t keep secrets from each other,” she said. “And I have a pretty big secret.”

Darcy was still sitting with her back up against the wall. She moved forward a little. The move brought her a little closer to Natasha.

“That’s true,” said Darcy. “Can you sit down? Having you looming over me is freaking me out and stuff.”

“I just admitted that I’m a vampire, and that’s what freaks you out?” Natasha asked, but she sat down on Darcy’s bed, leaving a short distance between them. Darcy wriggled around to face Natasha better.

“Well, not just the looming, but the looming definitely doesn’t help,” said Darcy. “Do you have fangs? Can I see them?”

Natasha’s brow crinkled.

“You’re taking this well.”

“Well, you already said you’re not planning to eat me, so I’m feeling a lot better,” Darcy responded.

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“I never said I wasn’t going to eat you,” she said, but instead of sounding threatening, the words sounded  flirtatious. Darcy felt her cheeks heat, and was hyper-aware of how close the two of them were.

“Oh,” she said, and her voice sounded breathy to her own ears. “But you’re not going to, are you?”

Natasha’s brow crinkled further, and she didn’t answer Darcy’s question.

“Darcy, I’ve been wanting to ask – do you have a crush on me?” she asked directly.

“More like a raging attraction,” Darcy admitted, without looking away from Natasha. “So, pointy fangs; do you have them?”

To Darcy’s surprise and delight, Natasha actually laughed.

“Yeah,” she said, grinning. “You really want to see them?”

When Darcy nodded, Natasha’s lips curled away from her teeth. Natasha tilted her head back slightly, and a pair of long, thin, _sharp_ looking teeth slid out from behind her canines.

Distantly, Darcy was aware that she should be absolutely terrified right now, but she was still giddy and high on adrenalin now that the immediately danger had passed, and all she felt was fascinated.

“Wow,” she said, examining Natasha’s fangs closely. “Those look sharp.”

The fangs retracted, and Natasha closed her mouth.

“You’re not scared?”

“Maybe a little, I just can’t feel it through the adrenalin rush,” Darcy said cheerfully.

Natasha frowned.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” she said abruptly. “What was I thinking – I should be getting out of here and hoping that you don’t tell any hunters –” She gathered herself to move.

“Whoa, wait!” Darcy grabbed hold of Natasha’s arm. “I’m not telling anyone,” she said strongly, since that seemed more important than asking about ‘hunters.’ “I like you, okay, and you’ve convinced me that you’re not killing anyone.” Darcy bit her lip, and asked, “Does it hurt, when you feed off people?”

Natasha had gone still when Darcy had grabbed her arm, and she still felt tense under Darcy’s grip. Darcy didn’t dare let go, for fear that Natasha would be gone the moment she did, and never come back.

“Only if they struggle,” Natasha said lowly, which was in no way a reassuring answer. Darcy didn’t think it was meant to be.

“Then I don’t care,” said Darcy, which wasn’t entirely true, but close enough. “You’re doing what you have to do to survive, right? As long as you’re not hurting people, I don’t care.”

Natasha finally relaxed again under Darcy’s hand, and Darcy reluctantly let go.

“I didn’t always care about not hurting people,” Natasha said, but stayed where she was.

“So when did you start?” Darcy asked.

“There was another vampire, who travelled with a circus,” said Natasha, and the faintest of fond smiles curved her lips. “He was an archer – he’d been turned in the Middle Ages – and he used to do all these trick shots with his bow as part of the shows at night. He showed me that vampires and humans could co-exist, that it was possible to live without killing and hurting people.”

“What happened to him?” Darcy asked. Natasha shrugged.

“It’s not a good idea for more than one vampire to be in the same place for long,” she said. “It becomes too obvious that something strange is going on. Clint and I parted ways when the circus moved on.”

“Was he your friend?” Darcy asked. Natasha was silent for a moment.

“I didn’t know him for long, but I guess he was.”

“It’s sad that you can’t live with other vampires, but I can see how that would draw attention,” said Darcy. “It sounds lonely, though.”

“Sometimes,” Natasha admitted.

Darcy found that she was starting to relax, coming down from the adrenalin high. She leaned over to grab a candy bar from her desk, and opened it. She took a bite.

“So,” Darcy said, through a mouthful of chocolate, “how come you decided to go to college? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here, but it doesn’t exactly say ‘creature of the night.’” Darcy considered her own words. “No more than any other college student, anyway.”

“That was part of it,” said Natasha. “Who’s going to look at a college student who sleeps in all day and think _oh, they must be a vampire?_ Everyone just assumes, _hey, it’s college_.”

“And the other part?”

“I wanted to do something with my life,” said Natasha. “Be something other than just a parasite living off the lifeblood of human beings. There’s no meaning in my life, no significance, no nothing. I sleep, I hunt, I eat, that’s it.” Natasha looked a little uncomfortable. “I felt it was about time I changed that.”

“Well, go you,” said Darcy, giving Natasha’s arm a nudge. “Why study I.T.?”

Natasha shrugged.

“I’m good with computers.”

Silence fell. Darcy ate her candy bar, and reflected on the surreality of the situation.

“You really aren’t afraid of me?” Natasha finally asked, breaking the silence. Darcy frowned thoughtfully.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I could be, but so far you haven’t tried to do anything to me, so no.”

A small, bright smile broke across Natasha’s face. It was beautiful and real, and something of Darcy was lost in that moment.

“Can I–“ Darcy started, and leaned forward.

It was Natasha who closed the distance between them, cupping Darcy’s face and bringing their lips together.

For a long moment Darcy wasn’t aware of anything but the movement of Natasha’s mouth against her own; her eyes had fluttered shut the moment the kissing had begun. Natasha’s hand moved, her fingers tangling in Darcy’s hair, and Darcy’s free hand came to rest on Natasha’s shoulder.

After a minute or so Darcy had to break the kiss, breathing heavily. She opened her eyes to see Natasha watching her with an inscrutable expression.

“So, that happened,” said Natasha. She brushed Darcy’s hair away from her face. “Are you sure?”

“Hell yes,” Darcy said, trying to bridge the gap between them a second time, but Natasha put out a hand, so Darcy stopped, and looked at her, searching for cues.

“I like you, Darcy,” said Natasha, “but my life is necessarily complicated, and I’m not always a good person. I’ve got a lot of red in my ledger, and I’d like to wipe it out, but that doesn’t mean I will. I owe the world more than I’ll ever be able to give back.”

“Oh, wow,” said Darcy. “Serious talk. Okay.” She tried to bring her brain back on line, to seriously consider what Natasha had just said. The thought _Natasha is a great kisser_ kept intruding. Darcy did her best to put it aside so she could think properly.

“Um,” said Darcy. “It’s just occurred to me, I don’t actually know how old you are.”

A slight smile touched Natasha’s lips.

“Older than I look,” she said mysteriously, which didn’t help.

“Yeah, guessed that,” Darcy answered. “Uh, so, are we looking at an age-gap thing, here? Like, age-appropriate differences?”

Natasha frowned in question. Darcy sighed.

“You know, how older people are more into commitment, security, that sort of thing, whereas younger people are more about experimentation and learning how awesome sex can be,” said Darcy. “Are we on the same page, or what?”

Natasha looked thoughtful.

“I’ve never actually had commitment or security as part of relationship before,” she said. “What about you?”

“Uh, well, I had a boyfriend in high school, because everyone has a boyfriend in high school,” Darcy said, “but honestly, I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call that a _relationship_. More like mutually agreed-on make-out sessions.”

“So this would be your first real relationship,” said Natasha. “That’s okay. I suppose in some ways, it would be mine, too. Look, I don’t want to scare you away – believe me, that’s the last thing I want to do. I just want you to know what you’re getting into.”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Darcy told her. “And the rest we can work out as we go, right?”

Natasha gave Darcy a long look.

“All I want is for both of us to give us a try,” said Darcy. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Natasha’s expression shuttered.

“Natasha?” Darcy asked, wondering what she’d said wrong.

“It can be hard,” said Natasha. “Trust me.”

“Okay,” Darcy said slowly.

Natasha looked at Darcy for another long moment.

“You’ve been warned,” she said. “Do you still want to go out with me?”

“Yeah,” Darcy confessed. “I really, really do.”

Natasha slowly smiled. It was bittersweet, but it was a smile, all the same.

“Okay,” she said, and leaned forward to kiss Darcy a second time. Darcy leaned back for just a second.

“Okay?” she clarified.

“Okay,” Natasha agreed.

Darcy smiled, and continued smiling as Natasha tangled her fingers in her hair again and brought their mouths together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Comments are appreciated!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

After Natasha left for her night classes, Darcy eventually went to bed, but didn’t sleep for a long time. She was too busy thinking about everything that had happened. She found herself grinning like an idiot every time she thought of the fact that she and Natasha were now _dating._ The vampire thing was… weird, and harder to process… but mostly, Darcy decided she didn’t care. It would take time to adjust, sure, but things would work out, she thought optimistically.

The next morning, the events of the previous day came rushing back the moment she woke up. Darcy lay there blinking at the ceiling, wondering if the entire thing had been a hallucination. She sat up in bed, and looked over at Natasha’s bed.

Natasha was lying there, as fast asleep as usual, bundled under her duvet. Darcy found herself smiling fondly.

Oh God, she didn’t already have it that bad, did she? Who was she kidding; she totally did. After her conversation with Natasha Darcy couldn’t help feeling that they shared something special. After all, no one else knew that Natasha was a vampire, right? And instead of deciding that Darcy knew too much, Natasha had decided to _trust_ her with that knowledge. The fact that they were dating after all of that just seemed natural, particularly after the way they’d been circling around each other with the excessive smiling and eye contact.

“I am lucky as hell,” Darcy said aloud; considering how badly things _could_ have gone, they’d turned out spectacularly well.

On impulse, Darcy reached for her phone, and sent Jane a text.

_me and Natasha are now dating! this is the best thing ever._

A moment later Darcy’s phone dinged with a reply.

_thats great you can tell me all about it after class._

Smiling, Darcy gathered her stuff and went to have her morning shower, a bounce in her step.

* * *

“So how did you two get together?” Jane wanted to know, as Darcy sipped at her slushie.

“It just sort of happened,” said Darcy. “We were there talking, and then we were suddenly kissing.”

Jane nodded understandingly, like she was completely familiar with the experience. Given that she was dating Thor, she probably was.  The sexual attraction had to be overpowering at times, dating a dude like Thor.

“So we talked things through,” Darcy continued, “and we’re now officially a thing.”

“Good for you,” said Jane. “I just hope it works out for you.”

“Me too,” Darcy agreed.

“Are you two going to do anything special?” Jane asked. “For dates, I mean.”

Darcy paused.

“You know, that’s a good question. It’d be nice to go out somewhere or something, wouldn’t it? I don’t know, me and Natasha have pretty different schedules. I’m usually in bed by the time her classes finish, and she never comes back to the dorm straight away, anyway.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” said Jane. “Anyway, I need to go do research for my paper. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Go ahead,” said Darcy, with a benevolent wave of her hand. “I can finish my slushie by myself, it’s cool. I just wanted to share my news with you.”

“Well, congratulations,” said Jane, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” said Darcy, and the two of them said their farewells, and Darcy headed back to her dorm.

As Darcy opened the door a figure crouched over Natasha’s bed straightened quickly, spinning around to face the door, wearing the expression of someone caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“ _Loki?_ ” Darcy demanded. “What the _hell_ were you doing? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go straight to the –”

“I was checking her pulse,” Loki explained, his expression turning grave. “You were right. She’s a vampire.”

A day ago, Darcy would have been relieved to hear him say that, because it meant she was no longer in this alone. Now, she wondered what it meant for Natasha, and mentally cursed herself for ever going to Loki.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Darcy. “She can’t be a vampire. I was just being stupid –”

“But she is,” said Loki quietly. “I come from a family of vampire hunters, Darcy. I know a vampire when I see one.”

“Oh.” Darcy swallowed. That… didn’t sound good. “What are you going to do?” she asked warily.

“What does one usually do with a vampire?” Loki asked rhetorically, and pulled a wooden stake out of his pocket.

Darcy lunged, throwing herself between Natasha and Loki.

“Darcy –” Loki said impatiently.

“You can’t kill her, okay, she’s not a danger, she doesn’t kill people!” Darcy protested, holding out her arms to block Loki’s access to Natasha. “I asked!”

“Oh, you _asked_.” Loki’s sarcasm was on full. “That’s alright, then. I’m sure she told you nothing but the pure, unvarnished truth.” He dropped the sarcastic tone. “Really, Darcy, I can see that you’ve become attached, but it’s for the best. Truly.” He took a step forward.

“You can’t just kill her, ask questions later,” Darcy said desperately, and fumbled through her bag. “Besides, how would you explain away the body?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t have to.” Loki smiled with too many teeth. “Don’t you know, that when a vampire is staked, their bodies decompose to the point corresponding to the amount of time that they’ve been dead? Most of them have been dead for so long that there’s nothing left of them but _dust_ once they’re staked. They–”

It was at this point that Darcy whipped her taser out of her bag and shot Loki with it.

Loki hit the floor like a sack of bricks, twitching and spasming.

“Shit! Shit! I just tased him!” Darcy put a hand to her mouth, horrified. “ _Shit_. Now is not the time to panic. What next, Lewis? Think. _What next?_ ”

She couldn’t just leave him on the floor unconscious, someone would notice. And when he woke up, Loki would probably try to kill Natasha again. Darcy could always report him to campus security for breaking into her dorm and threatening Natasha, but that would attract attention, and besides, Loki would just go after Natasha some other way.

And if what Loki had said was true – that his family were vampire hunters – then Darcy couldn’t go to Jane and Thor, either. What could she do?

“I hope you appreciate this,” Darcy said out loud to Natasha, who was still sleeping peacefully, oblivious to her brush with death. “Shit. What do I _do?_ ”

* * *

In the end, Darcy rang Tony Stark, because she had to ring _somebody_.

“Hey, Lewis,” Stark said as he sauntered into her dorm room like it was a thing he did all the time, raising his eyebrows at the sight of Loki unconscious on the floor. “I assume he’s what you were being so cagey about on the phone.”

“Tony, we shouldn’t be – is that Loki Odinsson?” asked Steve, walking in behind Tony, and stopping short as he noticed Loki.

Darcy glared at Tony accusingly. Tony threw up his hands.

“What, he heard you were in trouble, he wanted to come! Don’t look at me like that!”

“Did he _try_ something?” Steve asked, suddenly looking pretty fierce for such a small guy. For a second Tony’s face softened at the sight of Steve bristling like an angry kitten (which at least half-explained why Steve was there with him) before his own expression sobered.

“No! I mean, not like _that_ ,” said Darcy, aware that not only Steve, but Tony was looking at her with absolute seriousness. She took a deep breath. “Look. Natasha’s a vampire, and Loki was about to stake her.”

There was a long silence.

“Um,” said Steve.

“Lewis –” Tony began carefully.

“Oh my God, I’m not crazy.” Darcy held out her hand mirror. “She has no reflection or anything. Take a look.”

Tony levelled Darcy with a long stare, but took the mirror, and moved to examine Natasha with it. After a moment, he adjusted the mirror’s angle.

Adjusted it again. Then he stared.

“Holy shit,” said Tony.

“See?” said Darcy triumphantly, as Steve took the mirror from Tony so that he could see for himself. A moment later, both boys were looking shaken.

“Natasha’s a good vampire,” said Darcy. “She doesn’t kill, and she tries not to hurt anyone. You have to help me stop Loki and Thor killing her.”

“Thor?” Tony repeated.

“He doesn’t know yet, I don’t think, but apparently he and Loki come from a family of vampire hunters, so…” Darcy let the implications hang in the air.

There was a long silence. Tony and Steve looked at each other.

“What?” Darcy asked.

“Darcy, you just told us that she’s a vampire. Suppose, for a moment, that that’s true. _Why_ would we want to protect her?”

“Because she’s innocent!” Darcy protested.

“Really?” asked Tony. “What about that kid who was found unconscious at my part the other night. You know, the one with the weird puncture wounds on his neck? Tell me that wasn’t your girl, Lewis.”

Darcy swallowed.

“She can’t help being what she is,” Darcy said quietly. “Please, Tony. She doesn’t to deserve to be slaughtered for something she can’t change.”

Tony turned to look at Steve.

Steve looked he was thinking hard.

“Does she get consent, before she drinks blood?” he asked.

“How do you get consent for drinking people’s blood?” Darcy demanded.

Steve sighed, and looked back at Tony.

“I don’t like it,” he said, but she should at least get a chance to speak in her own defence. What’s her name?”

“Natasha,” Darcy answered.

Steve nodded as thought coming to a decision.

“If she agrees to only drink blood from consenting adults in future, we’ll help you protect her,” he said.

“ _We?_ What’s with the _we?_ ” Tony asked.

Steve gave him a stern look. Tony relented.

“Oh, fine,” said Tony. “But you both owe me _so_ much.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some of you will have noticed, this is not the original version of chapter eight, Someone pointed out to me that my original chapter was problematic, and upon reflection, I agreed. So I rewrote it to produce this version. I apologise if you saw the original version, and hope that you enjoy this one.

**Chapter Eight**

Natasha woke up to find Darcy, Tony and Steve playing cards, and Loki lying unconscious on the floor, restrained with Tony’s ‘recreational’ handcuffs (Darcy was so not going to ask).

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” said Tony, putting down some of his cards.

“What – why is Loki handcuffed and unconscious?” Natasha asked, sitting up. “And what are you all doing in here?”

“Loki was going to stake you, since apparently you’re a vampire,” said Tony breezily, still looking at his cards. “Darcy figured it wasn’t fair for him to play judge, jury, and executioner, so we’re going to be your judge and jury. Can I just say how unnerving I find it to know that vampires are actually a thing, by the way? I may never sleep soundly again.”

“That’s all the coffee you drink,” said Steve, and abandoned the card game. Darcy put down her cards as well. Tony did the same, grumbling about couldn’t Natasha have slept a little longer, he was winning.

Darcy sent Natasha an apologetic look as Steve leaned forward.

“We’re going to ask you some questions,” said Steve, “And we want you to answer them honestly.”

Natasha’s expression was guarded.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “What do you want to know?”

“Do you kill people?” Tony asked, point-blank.

Natasha’s expression twitched, before settling into something impenetrable.

“Not anymore.”

“But you used to?” Tony asked quickly. Natasha shrugged her shoulders.

“I used to think that it was the inevitable outcome of existing as I do. Now I think differently.”

“But you’re capable of killing,” Tony pressed.

“So is everyone,” Darcy broke in, edgy with the direction the questioning was going. “Maybe Natasha doesn’t need the tools to do it that we do, but we’re just as capable of killing as she is. The question is whether she _wants_ to. Which she doesn’t, FYI.”

Steve nodded.

“Darcy’s got a point,” he said, and Tony frowned, but stopped that line of questioning.

“Natasha,” said Steve, and he should have seemed laughable, as small as he was with that serious look on his face, but somehow he didn’t. “Do you hurt people?”

“Not if I can help it,” said Natasha.

“But you do hurt people?” Tony pounced.

Natasha hesitated.

“Sometimes,” she said honestly. “Sometimes the thrall doesn’t quite take, and whoever I’m feeding from struggles. It can hurt if they struggle.”

“So your blood-drinking is non-consensual,” Steve said, frowning. “Is there any way you can obtain blood consensually?”

Natasha shrugged again.

“Not without telling people what I am, and that’s not really a safe option.” Her eyes flicked to where Loki was lying on the floor, and yeah, they could all see her point.

“What if you drank my blood?” Darcy piped up. “I mean, people donate blood, right?”

“If I drank your blood too often, which I’d need to, it could make you sick,” Natasha pointed out, looking like she didn’t like the idea at all. “You’d be anaemic in no time.”

“But–” Darcy tried to argue, but Natasha shook her head firmly.

“No, Darcy. Drinking just from you would hurt you,” she said, and her tone said that she refused to compromise on that one. She looked back at Steve and Tony. “Usually I try and choose people who deserve it.”

“Deserve it?” Steve repeated, brows furrowed.

There was a groan from the floor, and everyone looked around to see Loki grimacing, eyes still shut, but apparently returning to consciousness. A moment later his eyes opened, and he stared groggily. He stared for a minute, before his gaze zoomed in on Natasha, and his eyes widened. He tried to move, only to discover that he was handcuffed.

“I target rapists, thieves, abusers, that sort of person,” said Natasha, and everyone looked back at her. “It’s not ideal – I’d like to be able to survive without targeting anyone at all. But since I have to drink people’s blood, I choose my targets carefully, and I try not to do them any harm.”

“Oh, _please,_ ” Loki muttered. Darcy kicked him warningly, and he shut up.

There was a knock on the dorm room door, and everyone tensed and looked at each other frantically, except for Loki, who opened his mouth.

“Say a word, and I’ll tell campus security that you tried to attack me in my own dorm room,” Natasha said in a low voice, and Loki’s jaw snapped shut again. “Who is it?” Natasha asked at a normal volume.

“It is Thor,” said a deep voice outside the door.

“Oh, shit,” said Tony. Everyone looked panicked.

“Oh, hey, Thor, what’s up?” Darcy asked, her voice coming out a little higher than usual.

There was a short pause.

“Darcy,” said Thor’s voice, “is my brother there?”

“Why do you ask?” Darcy asked.

“It would be easier to explain without a door in the way,” said Thor.

“Okay, just a minute,” Darcy said, and handed Tony her taser. He nodded, and Darcy walked over to open the door.

Thor took in the tableau before him: Natasha, looking wary, Steve looking stubborn, Tony nonchalant but holding a taser, while Darcy looked nervous, and Loki lay on the floor in handcuffs, his expression so _done_.

Thor blinked, but rolled with it.

“Peace, my friends,” said Thor. “I came here not to aid Loki, but to prevent him from carrying out the summary execution of one who may not deserve it.”

“But I thought your family were vampire hunters?” Darcy blurted.

“And I have seen what it has turned them into,” Thor said gravely, “to be judge, jury, and executioner.” Tony opened his mouth, no doubt to comment on the fact that he’d already used that phrase, but Steve elbowed him.

Thor sighed.

“I had hoped that Loki would be more discriminate in his reasoning, but he has always wished to make our father proud.”

“Oh, shut up!” Loki snarled. “She attacked Grant Ward–”

“Who has just been taken into custody for attacking another student last week,” said Thor sternly.

Loki stared at him. Thor’s gaze didn’t waver.

“ _Ward_?” Loki said.

“Yes,” said Thor.

“He hardly seems the type,” said Loki.

“Well, appearances can be deceiving,” said Tony. He glanced at Natasha. “Did you know?”

Natasha nodded.

“I was the one that found the kid he attacked,” she said. “Ward’s scent was all over him, and not in a good way. Like I said, I choose my targets carefully.”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“You truly only attack those who harm others?” Loki asked.

 Natasha gave him a long look, and nodded. Loki sagged.

“It appears that I owe you an apology,” Loki said at last, craning his head at an awkward angle to look at Natasha.

Natasha’s expression was inscrutable.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said.

“I do,” Loki insisted. He sighed. “Most of the vampires my family dealt with were killers. I am afraid that I did not seriously consider the idea that you were not. For that, I apologise.”

“Uh, I hate to interrupt, but just because Ward had it coming doesn’t make what Natasha does _okay_ ,” said Tony. Everyone looked at him, even Steve. “What?”

When everyone just kept looking at him, Tony rolled his eyes.

“Okay, fine. Whatever,” he said, and turned to Natasha. “Promise you’ll only stick to douchebags, and do no permanent harm?”

“I promise,” Natasha said solemnly.

Tony turned to Loki.

“And you, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, promise not to try and kill Carmilla over there?”

“Promise in return never to call me that again,” said Loki, “and I will.”

Tony made a face, but said, “It’s a deal,” and went through his pockets looking for the key to the handcuffs. Steve cleared his throat, and held them out, smiling slightly.

“Thanks, short stuff,” said Tony. Instead of puffing up indignantly at the nickname, Steve only gave a crooked smile as Tony crouched to unlock the handcuffs.

Loki sat up with a groan, and stretched. He looked up at Thor with a scowl.

“I suppose you think you’re some sort of positive influence,” he said scathingly.

Thor only smiled sunnily, and said, “Aye.”

“If you’ve all resolved not to kill me,” said Natasha, a little impatiently, “Darcy and I would like our dorm room to ourselves.”

“Sure,” said Tony, as Thor and Loki left, and Steve tugged on Tony’s arm, “although, if you ever feel like making a little extra on the side, I wouldn’t working out how the ‘no reflection’ trick works –”

“ _Tony_ ,” said Steve, and Tony finally allowed himself to be dragged out the door.

Darcy shut it, and leaned against it for a second.

“Well,” she said after a second, “that was all very dramatic. Also, Loki is still a dick.”

Natasha didn’t disagree, and Darcy gave her a closer look.

“Are you okay?”

“My friend would have killed me if you hadn’t stopped him,” Natasha said, her voice wooden, and Darcy left her spot by the door and sat next to Natasha, wrapping her arms around her.

Natasha hugged back, resting her head on Darcy’s shoulder, and they sat there for a long moment, just holding each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is probably the epilogue.


End file.
